Films about hermits

Here are films of interest about hermits and
eremitism, plus films about solitude, silence, and simplicity. They are presented from most recently released to oldest. Trailers or equivalent are embedded when available.
The presence of a film here does not constitute an endorsement or
recommendation, though all the films present hermits and the related topics in a positive and sympathetic way.

Films about solitude, silence, simplicity - 14 films

Hikikomori: A Deafening Silence(France, Japan, 2015)

Produced by Dorothee Lorang and David Beautru

from a website profile of the producer:

"There are probably between 600,000 and a million young people in Japan spending their days shut up in their room
cut off from social life, and this sometimes has last for several years.
This youth named 'hikikomori' is characteristic of what Japanese society calls 'the lost generation.'
The film goes to meet them in one of the rare re-socialization centers for hikikomori.
With this documentary Hikikomori, Listening to Silence we wanted to understand the hikikomori
phenomenon in Japan by allowing these youth to speak and by reaching their inner questioning.
They are the future of their country, but their lack of self-confidence and the pressure of a too heavy
competitiveness made them eventually sink into oblivion."

In Pursuit of Silence (U.S., 2014-15)

Produced and directed by Patrick Shen with production team

from the website:In Pursuit of Silence is a meditative film about the value of silence, our relationship with sound, and the implications of living in such a noisy world. From the Desert Fathers of the third century AD who became the model for Christian monasticism to John Cage’s seminal work 4’33” which would go onto inspire a generation of artists, humankind has had a long fascination with silence. In our race towards modernity, amidst all the technological innovation and the rapid growth of our cities, silence is now quickly passing into legend. We struggle to hear ourselves think, imagine, and connect with one another. Offering audiences a contemplative cinematic experience, the sights and sounds of this film will work its way through frantic minds, into the quiet spaces of hearts, and help shape a new vision of being.

Producer's description:Richard is a portrait of wandering piano tuner Richard Roberts while he explores the adventures of living without a fixed address. He classes himself as working homeless – a growing group who sleep rough by night, but then get up in the morning to go to work. Richard sees his lifestyle choice as an experiment of economics, convenience and environmental impact ...

directed by Pat Collins; produced by South Wind Blows and Harvest Films

Producer's description: Eoghan is a sound recordist who
is returning to Ireland for the first time in 15 years. The reason for
his return is a job offer: to record landscapes free from man-made
sound. His quest takes him to remote terrain, away from towns and
villages.
Throughout his journey, he is drawn into a series of encounters and
conversations which gradually divert his attention towards a more
intangible silence, bound up with the sounds of the life he had left
behind.
Influenced by elements of folklore and archive, the film unfolds with a
quiet intensity, where poetic images reveal an absorbing meditation on
themes relating to sound and silence, history, memory and exile.

Modern-Day Hermits: The Story of Hikikomori in Japan and Beyond (US,
2012)

produced by the Univerity of Michigan Center for Japanese
Studies

a lecture by Alan
Teo, a psychiatrist and researcher at the university,
on the psychological, cultural and social factors of hikikomori.

Susan Cain: "The Power of Introverts" - TED Talk (US,
2012)

produced by TED; a
talk by Susan Cain, based on her book: Quiet: the Power of Introvertsfrom the TED site:
In a culture where being social and outgoing are prized above all else,
it can be difficult, even shameful, to be an introvert.
But, as Susan Cain argues in this passionate talk, introverts bring
extraordinary talents and abilities to the world, and should be
encouraged and celebrated.
Our world prizes extroverts -- but Susan Cain makes a case for the
quiet and contemplative.

Tom Boyle, the Moneyless Man
- TED Talk (UK, 2011)

produced by TEDx-OPorto; a talk by Mark Boyle, based on his
book: The Moneyless Man
about Mark Boyle:
Mark Boyle has a business degree and management experience, but since
November 2010 has lived without money, off the grid, in a trailer
parked next to a farm near Bristol, England.
Boyle travels by bicycle, barters his labor, and nurtures a large
community
of like-minded advocates of "Freeconomics."

Living Without Money
(Norway, 2010)

produced by Jan Dalchow, directed by Line Halvorsen; German
w/English
subtitles.http://livingwithoutmoney.org/
from the film synopsis about Heidemarie Schwermer:
In 1996, Heidemarie Schwermer, a German teacher and
psychotherapist, made a
deliberate choice to stop using money and gave away all of her
belongings but a suitcase full of clothes. She is still living almost
without money and claims she is feeling more free and independent than
ever. The film follows Heidemarie in her day to day life and
shows the challenges she meets by living an alternative lifestyle.

How To Be Alone
(Canada, 2010)

narration/music by poet/songwriter Tanya Davis; produced by Andrea Dorfman.
Website: http://youtu.be/k7X7sZzSXYs
YouTube "About" information includes complete text, which opens: "If you are at first lonely, be patient.
If you've not been alone much, or if when you were, you weren't okay with it,then just wait.
You'll find it's fine to be alone once you're embracing it."

The Big Silence
(UK, 2010)

produced by BBC Two
original 3 episodes available on YouTube in 12 partsabout the film:
Abbot Christopher Jamison, a Benedictine monk, believes that he can
teach five ordinary people the value of silent meditation, as practised
by monks in monasteries, so they can make it part of their everyday
lives. He sets up a three-month experiment to test out whether the
ancient
Christian tradition of silence can become part of modern lives.

Moneyless in Moab (US, 2006)

produced by Gordon Stevenson; linked on Daniel
Suelo's blogabout Daniel Suelo:
Daniel Suelo stopped using money in 2000. He lives in caves outside
Moab, Utah, growing, foraging, dumpster-diving, and working for food.
He uses discarded items and gifts, and volunteers, exchanges, or freely
gives his labor. Suelo is the subject of a 2012 book The Man Who Quit Money,
by Mark Sundeen.

directed by Mercedes Alvarez, produced by Jose Maria
Larafrom the trailer:
After a 35-year absence, director Mercedes Alvarez returns to her
native village Aldealsenor in remote northwest Spain. She was the last
child born there; now only 14 aged inhabitants remain. Though her film
is intensely personal, Alvarez yields the spotlight to the dwindling
but tenacious villagers. The passing years have made them natural
philosophers, historians, and comedians ... From a small patch
of ground, Alvarez opens up a vast domain, dissolving the personal into
the universal, the fleeting into the timeless, and isolation into a
connectedness that reaches high into the heavens and deep into the
past.

produced by Robert Kull; http://www.bobkull.org/
from the website:
Solitude is sometimes dark and difficult, but there is deep joy abiding
in the flickering stillness. Moments when, as unexpected gift,
boundaries and buffers dissolve and
All is, as it always was, sacred and alive. Solitude can remind us
there is no true spiritual freedom except through surrender to our own
lives just as they are - here and now - in each moment.